Little by Little
by Patzy
Summary: Mathias Andersen meets a mysterious girl on his first day as a fifth grader and tries to know more about her, little by little. ((HumanAU, some characters are genderbent))
1. How He Met Her

**Little by Little**

 **\- 1 -**

 _ **How He Met Her**_

"Hey, Mathias! Wait up!"

Ten year old Mathias paused in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. A classmate of his greeted him a friendly high five and proceeded to lightly wrap his right arm around Mathias' neck.

"What's up?" The Dane asked, leaning closer to his friend.

"Nothing. I'm just happy." His classmate smiled as he looked somewhere else.

"Huh? Where are you looking at?" Mathias blinked.

"At the most gorgeous girl in school."

"The what?"

His classmate raised his pointing finger towards the direction of a group of girls playing volleyball. Unfortunately for Mathias, half of the girls were facing the court, concentrating on their opponent, who was about to perform a service. He also wasn't familiar with girls from other classes.

"Who?" Mathias asked, nudging his classmate.

"What do you mean who?! Jeez, Matt. She's right there!" His classmate positioned himself in front of Mathias and then tried to point the girl.

Mathias knew that the other boy was trying to show him who that mystery beauty was, but he simply not good at these kinds of things. He had to act like he finally knew who his classmate was referring to.

Yes. He had to.

"Uhh...yeah. I see her right now." Mathias said.

Internally, Mathias winced. He tried looking at the profiles of each girls from both teams but their flurry of movements made it hard for him to really determine who was "hot" or not. Not to mention that a person's perception of beauty differed.

Ah fuck it. He was just going to wing this conversation.

"Well? How do you find her?" His classmate asked.

Uh-oh. Think of something generic, Mathias.

"Err, she looks really good in her outfit and she moves gracefully in the field." The Dane said in a false cheerful voice.

"Damn right!" His classmate flashed him a thumbs up and an approving nod.

Phew, that worked. Thank God for ad-libs.

"Hey Matt."

"Hmm?"

"Wouldn't it be great if we become classmates with her?"

"Sure. I'm down with getting to know unfamiliar faces."

"Huh? You haven't been classmates with her even though we're in the fourth grade already?" His classmate blinked.

Mathias shook his head. "Not really. I've been mostly with similar sets of people."

"Then let's forward to us having her as one of the new faces you'll meet next school year." His classmate gave him a pat on the back.

The days and months rolled by easily since then. Before Mathias noticed it, he had become into a fifth grader. Nothing changed from the get go. As soon as he arrived at his designated room, he cheerfully greeted the class with his standard first-day-of-the-semester greeting. Some of the boys approached and talked to him, while the girls gave him a wave.

Once he got the greetings out of the way, he went towards his seat. For straight four years, he had always been designated as Seat #2 in the initial seat plan. He didn't bother looking at his class information and went straight ahead to the left most side of the first row. When he found his supposed seat, he noticed a girl sitting on it.

"Heya, I think you got the wrong seat." Mathias said as he stood beside the seat.

"Are you sure? My class information said that I'd be Seat #2." The girl turned her head towards Mathias' direction.

Mathias realized he wasn't familiar with this particular classmate of his and studied her profile briefly. She had long blond hair that was a shade lighter than his golden ones. If it weren't for her long bangs, he'd immediately notice her unusual midnight blue eyes.

"Hey." She spoke up, one of her eyebrow raised.

"Oh! Uhm, sorry. I was thinking," Mathias let out an uneasy laugh. "Can I see your class info? I'd take a look at mine but I left mine at home." He lied.

He actually had his inside his bag, but he wanted to know who she was. He wasn't used to talking to someone new and wanted to ease the awkwardness early on by stealthily acquiring little information on the other person.

The girl in question let her eyes linger on him for a second before wordlessly giving him a piece of paper. Mathias thanked her and read her class information. True enough, the words Seat # 2 was printed in bold letters on the upper middle of the paper.

And her name...?

Mathias drifted his eyes lower.

Luka Bondevik.

So her name is Luka Bondevik. Mathias grinned as he returned the paper to its owner. "Sorry about that."

Luka shrugged as she took the paper from Mathias' hands. "Do you know your seat number?"

"If I had to guess, I must be Seat #1. Last name's Andersen. The person that's usually ahead of my last name isn't here so..."

"Oh. That makes sense." Luka moved her body facing front.

Mathias placed his bag on the left most seat beside Luka and sat down. Luka moved her seat a bit to her right and began fiddling with her phone.

Awkward silence.

Mathias wanted to break the silence.

"Anyway, this is the first time we've been classmates." He spoke up.

Lukas nodded without looking.

"Uhm, your class info said your name is Luka?"

Another nod.

Mathias took that as a somewhat positive remark from the other person.

"I'm Mathias Andersen. Please treat me well this year." He introduced himself.

"Likewise."

Later on, Mathias and his former classmate bumped into each other in the hallway. They greeted each other and shared stories how their summer vacation went. When his former classmate asked him about his class, Mathias shared that he recently talked to a new face.

"Really? Good for you. I'm kinda sad that I'm not classmates with her." His former classmate sighed.

"I've been curious for some time now, but who IS your crush?" Mathias asked.

"What are you talking about, Matt? She's your classmate," He pointed out. "By now, you should have realized that she's a new...wait, you didn't mention that new face you were talking about."

"I don't get it? I mean, the only new person I talked to was Luka-

"You what?!" The other boy shook Mathias.

"I said that the only new person I talked to was Luka Bondevik...?" Mathias repeated, his voice showing his uncertainty as he looked at his friend, who looked at him with accusing eyes.

"...you...didn't tell me about her."

Mathias blinked. And then he realized what his former classmate was talking about. Or at least he _thought_ he figured out what was happening.

"Wait, is she your crush?" he slowly asked.

The other boy nodded.

"Oh…"

And that was how ten year old Mathias Andersen officially met Luka Bondevik.

 **End of the Chapter**

 **A/N: Hi guys. This is actually my first DenNor fanfic...even though I actually love DenNor as much as I like Spamano. Anyway, please bear with my amateur writing skills. With that said, reviews are always appreciated.**


	2. A Textbook for Two

**Little by Little**

 **\- 2 -**

 _ **A Textbook for Two**_

Pitter-patter, goes the droplets of the rain as it rapidly hit any surface.

Mathias made a mad dash across the school yard. Earlier this morning, he had woken up thirty minutes past his usual time and had to double his pace. In his haste to pack up his school materials, he had forgotten to include his umbrella. By the time he was halfway to school, the rain suddenly fell from the sky with a vengeance.

"Ugh, I really hope my books and notebook are okay." He said to himself as he took a fresh change of clothes and a tube of his favorite hair gel brand from his locker.

"Andersen! Looking rough from Mother Nature's shower over there eh?" A taller man called out from the other side of the corridor.

It was one of his teachers from previous grades, Mr. Beilschmidt. Even though their position dictated Mr. Belischmidt as a teacher and Mathias as a student, they were rather close. Mathias closed his locker before walking towards the other man with a sheepish smile.

"Hey teach. I forgot to bring my umbrella." He explained.

"I can see that. You better get going and change your clothes already. You might catch a cold." Mr. Beilschmidt prodded him with his elbow.

As if on cue, Mathias let out a very loud sneeze. "Achoo!"

"Told you." The teacher gave his student a smug smile.

Mathias stuck his tongue out while the teacher just laughed.

"Advice taken, teach. I better hurry up or else Mr. Edelstein might kill me if I show up late to his class." Mathias excused himself.

Minutes later, the Dane arrived in his classroom sporting a new set of clothes and a freshly gelled hairdo. He did his usual morning greetings and quickly made his way to his seat. He placed his soaked bag on top of his desk and started checking his books and notebook. To his dismay, his music book was halfway soaked through. The poor book was the only one he hadn't wrapped in plastic and had placed in front of his other belongings. As a result, it got the most damage among his school materials.

"Oh shit." He groaned as he madly swung his music book in an attempt to dry it.

Unbeknownst to him, his rough movements woke up his napping seatmate. "So noisy…" Luka grumbled as she sat upright.

Mathias paused as he looked to his right.

Strands of long blond locks moved gracefully along with the movements of his seatmate's body. Mathias couldn't help but to silently watch Luka as she made a little stretch in her seat. Her midnight blue eyes locked with his cerulean ones. He hadn't notice it at first, but she looked pretty than he had initially assessed.

Even if she _has_ those circular red marks on her forehead.

Luka continued looking at him, as if waiting for him to speak up.

Oops, was he staring at her for that long?

"Hi Luka. Didn't notice you were there. Sorry about that." Mathias apologized.

"What are you doing?" Luka asked, eyeing his music book.

"I'm trying to dry my book. It got wet while I was on my way here." He resumed flailing his book around.

"You'll only end up destroying the book if you keep on doing that." Luka pointed out.

"I'd borrow other people's book but we're the only class who has Mr. Edelstein as our music teacher. He uses a different textbook too." Mathias sighed in defeat.

The bell rang, signaling the start of classes. Students scurried to their respective classes and sat on their seats. Usually, there'd be lingering chatter among friends inside class but for Mathias' class, everyone was silent. After all, their first subject was the dreaded music class.

The class in which Mathias might get scolded in because of his drenched book.

Everyone knew that Mr. Edelstein was very particular with his class and that included his class requirements. He had mentioned in the beginning of the term that everyone should take care of their textbooks and that he will have unannounced inspections of their textbooks.

Yet here he was, holding his one and only shriveled up textbook. Mathias knew that anything shriveled hardly translates to something aesthetically pleasing to one's eyes.

Oh the horror.

In less than five minutes, the front door of the room opened. Mr. Edelstein walked on the front aisle, stopping once he reached the teacher's desk. The class stood up and greeted him good morning in unison. Mr. Edelstein returned the greeting.

Without skipping a beat, he immediately asked the class to bring out their music book. While waiting for the class to place their music books on their desk, he silently checked whether everyone brought their textbook.

Mathias stared at his still-soaked music book. If he had to, he could still use the book. Then again, the pages might get damaged once Mr. Edelstein starts instructing them to flip through various points of the book.

His seatmate, seemingly oblivious to his silent suffering, brought out her own textbook. Unlike his, Luka's textbook was still in pristine condition. It was carefully covered in a translucent plastic cover. Oh, and it was dry too.

He should have covered his, damn it!

He should have brought an umbrella too.

He should have _really_ brought an umbrella in the first place.

A tap on his shoulder momentarily distracted Mathias from his petty self-loathing. He quizzically looked at Luka, who had placed her textbook on his desk. She tugged at his desk, silently beckoning him to move his desk closer to hers. Mathias wordlessly did so, while mouthing the words _What is this for?_

Mr. Edelstein took notice of their strange actions and went towards them. Once he had asked what was going on, Luka gave the said music teacher a small smile and told him that she had wanted to share her textbook with Mathias, since she had accidentally spilled water over his.

Mathias could only blink rapidly in silence as he watched the two exchange words. What did just happen? It wasn't only him that wondered what was happening. He could feel the eyes of the other thirty students boring into their backs.

As sudden as Mr. Edelstein approached him, he left Luka and Mathias without a word and immediately began his lecture. The class went on its usual pace and Mathias soon didn't notice that he had somehow gone through the one and a half hour lecture without being scolded.

Later on that day, he asked Luka as to why she had to lie to Mr. Edelstein. The only response he got was: "I just felt like it."

 **End of the Chapter**

 **A/N: Hi guys. Yes, I know the second chapter is already up. I'm on a roll right now HAHA. Thanks for the views and reviews HUE HUE. Keep the reviews coming – I appreciate it.**

 **If you guys are wondering what subject Prussia (Mr. Beilschmidt) is teaching - it's history.**

 **Once again, please bear with my amateur writing skills.**


	3. King and Queen of the Arcade

**Little by Little**

 **\- 3 -**

 _ **King and Queen of the Arcade**_

Mathias stood outside the local grocery store in his neighborhood. He shifted the shopping bags to his left hand and took out a small slip of paper from his pocket with his right hand. He silently read the shopping list his mother gave him. He had already bought almost everything on the list and only needed to buy two pieces of light bulbs from another store, since the grocery store ran out of stock of the particular brand his family used. The only hardware store closest to the grocery store was in the shopping district; however it was a bit far away from his neighborhood.

He decided to return back home in order to drop the groceries. Since he had nothing else to do aside from buying the light bulbs, he asked permission from his mother whether he could stay out longer. His mother gave him extra money and reminded him to return home before dinner.

"Don't worry, mom. I'll be home before you know it!" Mathias reassured his mother, giving her a quick peck on her cheek.

"Don't forget your umbrella and leave your music textbook here. Better be safe than sorry." His mother smirked at him.

"Ugh, you're still mentioning that?!" Mathias took the umbrella. "Anyway, I'm heading out now."

Thirty minutes later, the Dane arrived at the shopping district. He immediately headed to a hardware store and bought the light bulbs. However, his excitement died down when he realized that he didn't know what to do afterwards. He wandered aimlessly around the district until he saw the arcade.

"Huh, haven't been here in a while." Mathias said.

Three years ago, he often stopped by the arcade before going home. He'd spend a major portion of his allowance for his gaming. His slight addiction with arcades got him in heaps in trouble that his mother promised him to buy a game console whenever he got good grades AND earned a certain amount of money in a set timeframe. Determined to have his own game console, he fulfilled his side of the bargain by studying and learning how to save. So far, he had managed to get his hand on the consoles he liked and used a portion of his overall allowance to buy games. He also managed to open a kiddy saving account with the help of his mother.

It was a tiring task, but Mathias thought the benefits were worth the struggles.

Still, the game center provided that ambiance that was quite different from playing at home. Mathias realized that the assorted sounds and lighting as well as the presence of other people, mostly strangers, playing with/against you was something unique at every game center.

With that, Mathias decided to kill some time there. Because why not.

He entered the game center. He immediately went to the counter and exchanged half of his money for a couple of tokens. Now that he had tokens, Mathias set out to try some of the games. He let his eyes roam around the area. The first game that caught his attention was the new (gasp!) Tekken game machine.

Mathias had a longing expression on his face. He was still in the middle of earning for the PlayStation version of the said game. For that purpose, he had been _extremely_ patient for the past few months. He had steered away game invites from friends and even avoided watching playthroughs and demo videos.

But now…

Seeing the game machines made Mathias waver at long last. Before he knew it, he had already approached the said machine and inserted a token in the token slot. He placed the plastic bag that contained the light bulbs away on top of the control table. He gently pushed away the bag as far away as he could from the game controls.

"Better be safe than sorry." Mathias chuckled to himself as he moved the joystick with his left hand.

After choosing his character, he began playing against the machine. Winning match after match, his earlier excitement ebbed away. Just as he was about to let his character lose in order to try another game, a set of words appeared on the screen.

"A new challenger! Get ready for the next battle." The machine announced.

Mathias, who was halfway standing up, scrambled back to his seat and nervously looked at his own screen. A real opponent was challenging him and that person was just at the other side of the machine. He suddenly wondered if he was still good enough to take on real people instead of the so-called ghosts or computer-controlled gaming.

His fears later receded as he and his mystery opponent fought each other. They were at their fifth match, with both of them having equal amounts of win and losses.

"Revenge match!" The machine said for the tenth time.

Mathias groaned. His opponent seemed very determined to win against him. Well, he was too but he was starting to get a little conscious of the crowd slowly gathering around them.

The crowd cheered for both of them. Throughout their subsequent matches, Mathias somehow gathered subtle hints as to who the mystery player was. Apparently, he was playing against a girl roughly around age.

The girl that first came to his mind was Luka Bondevik. Mathias snickered. It was impossible. The boys in their class usually discuss about games in general, but she didn't make any indication that she was interested in their talks. The only time she'd shown interest in something was when the class had a ghost story sharing session during their last field trip.

And not to mention that the entire class got scared of the story she shared. He still remembered every detail she shared.

Mathias accidentally let go of the controls as he shivered involuntarily at the memory. As soon as he did, his character was left defenseless. In a split second, the mystery player's character knocked his character and won two consecutive matches. Half of the crowd voiced their disappointment as the machine declared, "You lose!" and quickly dispersed.

When the crowd was gone, Mathias rose from his seat, retrieved his plastic bag and took a peek at the opposite machine. His opponent was really a girl. From his angle, he saw that she wore a navy blue beret and a black dress. As for her face, Mathias couldn't see her facial features because of her long fringe.

"Heya, thanks for the awesome match. You're really good in Tekken." Mathias said, extending his hand.

The mystery player tilted her head upwards. Her fringe slightly moved, revealing her midnight blue eyes. "Oh, it's you." She said, her eyes widening in recognition.

Mathias blinked. "Luka?"

"I should have known. I thought there was another idiot in town." She sighed.

"Do you play often here?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I just play whenever I want to."

"But you're surprisingly good in fighting games." He pointed out.

"Just memorize the combos and know how to dodge or defend." She shrugged.

After talking about the game, Luka asked Mat why he was in the area.

Mathias laughed. "I was just in the area 'cause of an errand."

"Are you done with your errand?"

"Yeah. That's why I stopped by here."

"Oh."

Silence.

Mathias awkwardly placed his hands on his pockets. His right hand touched a few tokens he had bought. Then he had a great idea.

"Hey Luka, are you still free today?" He asked.

"I guess. Why?" She asked.

"I still have some extra tokens. Want to play some crane game with me before you go? I still have five tokens."

Luka raised a brow. "Isn't that your money?"

"It is, but I remembered that I haven't exactly returned the favor from the textbook incident." Mathias mentally thanked his mother for reminding him of that.

"There's no need to do that." She scoffed.

Mathias insisted. "Aww, don't say that. There must be something here that you like."

"I told you, I don't…?" Her voice trailed off in an uncertain tone.

Mathias looked at Luka, who was staring at a certain large crane machine. The prizes were the usual stuffed toys however…the characters looked a tad eccentric, even for Mathias' tastes. Instead of the usual pastel colored cutesy stuffed toys, the characters looked gloomy and fearsome, even.

Both stood in silence as they both stared at the crane machine.

"If you must, then I'd like that. Mister Troll." She finally said.

"Err, which one?" Mathias squinted his eyes, trying to look for any semblance of cuteness in each character.

For the young Dane, their only identifying feature they had was their color. As if reading his mind, his companion supplied him with the information he needed:

"I'm referring to the green ones." Luka impatiently tugged at his shirt.

The character in question was about ten inches tall, had a large amount of fur (or was it hair?) covering its rather large head, long arms and legs. It had a scrunched up face, as if he had never seen better days. Oh, and it's green :D

"O-Oh. Yeah, it's obviously him, huh." Mathias let out an uneasy laugh.

To their luck, one of the Mister Trolls was already near prize drop area. With vigor, the he two played with the crane game in an alternate fashion. At their second try, both still failed to get one of the so-called cute green troll. They were left with only one token as their last chance in ever getting the stuffed toy.

And the one to play the decisive game was Mathias, who felt pressured to get his music class savior a tiny token of appreciation for her courageous and selfless deed. He stared at Luka. She had an unusually attentive look on her face as she eyed Mister Troll.

"Alright. I'll get this one for sure, Luka." He said in a shaking voice.

She quickly nodded.

He moved the joystick towards the direction of Mister Troll. Once he was certain he positioned the claw right, he hit the lift button. The claw slowly descended towards the stuffed toy and slowly grabbed its body.

As the claw moved upward, its hold on the toy was starting to loosen. Mathias and Luka were already already gripping each others' clothes as they silently watched the toy slid down from the claw in small increments. The weight of the unusual toy was dragging itself down.

But then, something incredible happened.

Just as the claw almost gave out, some of Mister Troll's hair (or fur?) got stuck around the claw's teeth. The two stared in disbelief as the claw peacefully moved towards the prize drop area and dropped the toy.

They won. They managed to get Mister Troll in only five tries.

But Mathias won something much more valuable and worthwhile.

He hadn't thought it was possible, but there he was, staring at Luka's smile and hearing her soft melodic laughter as she hugged Mister Troll.

And he thought that was the best prize he had won in the arcade.

 **End of the Chapter**

 **A/N:** **If anyone's curious about some details surrounding the characters -**

 _Mathias Andersen:_

[1] His father died when he was young. That's why he only mentions his mother.

[2] He lives a bit far away from school. He's one of the few people in his grade that needs at an thirty minutes worth of commute time. He just walks all the way to school to save money.

[3] He is an intelligent student. He's not an honor student, but he generally has above average scores in all subjects.

[4] He is a bit forgetful and doesn't play close attention to details at times.

[5] He refers to former classmate as "former classmate" because he forgot his name.

 _Luka Bondevik:_

[1] She is popular in her grade, but her lone wolf personality makes it hard for boys to approach her.

[2] Even though she doesn't talk much in general, she maintains an overall friendly relationship with others and can express herself if needed.

[3] A year ago, she learned to play Tekken by absentmindedly memorizing the combo lists in a gaming magazine she read while waiting for someone. She grew fond of the game and plays it once a week.

[4] She likes mythical creatures and horror stories. She spends a significant amount of her time reading/watching materials catering to her tastes.

[5] Despite her stoic appearance, she is carefree and likes approaching things at her own pace.

This story is still far from being over. I think HAHA. Anyway, to those who read from chapter one til this point - thanks for reaching this point. That means a lot to me.

 **Once again, please bear with my amateur writing skills. Reviews are always appreciated.**


	4. The Cold Autumn's Warmth

**Little by Little**

 **\- 4 -**

 _ **The Cold Autumn's Warmth**_

Mathias groaned as he turned off the alarm clock.

Even though he was wide awake, he didn't want to leave the comforts of his bed. He strangely felt weak and light headed. It also didn't help that he has a cold. He snuggled up under the covers in an attempt to have an additional few minutes of sleep. The coldness and soften of the bed slowly lulled him back to sleep.

Just for a few minutes…

Unfortunately for the Dane, a knock on his door thwarted his plans.

Mrs. Andersen opened the door, wearing an exasperated look on her face. "Mat! Wake up. I heard your alarm go off minutes ago. Hurry up and change your clothes."

"Give me five minutes?" He mumbled under the comforts of his bed cover.

"Mathias Andersen. Wake. Up. Now."

That seemed to do the trick. Within seconds, Mathias threw the bed covers from his body and ran to the bathroom. Minutes later, he went downstairs, fully bathed and clothed for school. His mother, clad in her office attire, was moving around the kitchen in a hurried manner. He went towards the dining table and sat on one of the chairs. Today's breakfast was simple – it consisted of two slices of bread, an egg and two hot dogs.

"Good morning, mom." Mathias said as he followed his mother's movements.

She gave him a quick nod and placed his packed lunch beside him. "Good morning. Hurry up and eat."

"Why are you in a hurry today?" He took a bite of the bread.

"I have an out-of-town meeting today. I probably won't be home 'til evening." She gave her a tired smile.

"Again? You've been having those meetings a lot lately."

"That's the reality in the workplace, Mat. Now eat up."

She gave her son a quick kiss on his cheek and gave him a few reminders. Mathias followed his mother to the driveway, where her car was parked. She immediately went to her car and zoomed away. Once his mother was out of sight, he went back to eating his breakfast.

By the time Mathias arrived to school, he already felt tired. He tossed his bag beside his seat and let out a tired sigh.

Was it because he walked all the way to school while suffering for a cold? Suddenly, he started to regret his earlier actions. But he was already at school. No use going back now. Maybe he could take a short nap before class starts. Before he tried taking the said nap, he said his usual morning greeting towards his seatmate, Luka.

"Your 'Good Morning' doesn't sound too good." She pointed out while reading a novel.

"It isn't." He admitted.

She shifted her gaze towards him. "You don't look too good."

"Really?" He crossed his arms as he leaned towards his desk.

"You look pale." Luke reiterated.

"It's starting to get colder, so maybe I look paler than usual?"

"Stupid. What does the weather have to do with your skin color?" She scoffed.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't mind me. I'll probably feel better if I get a few minutes of sleep."

Luka said nothing and let him do as he pleased. As the day wore on, Mathias' energy levels were steadily going down. For the first four hours of class, he gave his full attention towards the lectures and jot down notes. During lunch time, he opted to remain in class and ate his lunch in his seat. Noticing his toned down behavior, his classmates started asking him if he was feeling unwell.

"I'll be alright." He waved their worries with a shrug.

When the fifth period started, Mathias was already in a daze. Thirty minutes into the discussion about factoring, he was already leaning on his desk. Mr. Mogens, who thought that he wasn't interested in his class, suddenly called his name and told him to answer a problem he had written on the board.

"Mathias! Hey!" Luka discreetly called him.

"H-Huh?" Mathias blinked as he sat upright.

That's right, he was still in class. How did he fallen asleep? Most importantly, what was happening? Why was everyone staring at him? Why was Mr. Mogen looking at him in an annoyed way?

"What are you doing? Mr. Mogen's asking you to solve something." She told him.

"Oh shit, really? I didn't notice I fell asleep." He groaned as he looked at the board.

"You're really out of it today. Are you alright" Luka frowned.

For a moment, Mathias caught her worried tone. Not wanting her to be worried for him, he replied, "I-I'm fine."

Luka was about to say something else when Mr. Mogens interrupted their hushed conversation. The girl immediately stopped talking to him, but continued to look at him with an unfathomable expression.

"Andersen, go in front and solve the problem." Mr. Mogens repeated, his voice laced with irritation.

"Right," He rose from his seat. "Sorry for that Mr. Mogens." He gave his teacher a meek nod.

"Just go in front and answer already." The teacher sighed.

Mathias went to the board and briefly read the math problem. He had to find the greatest common factor (GCF) of 30 and 45. Once he got the gist of what he was asked to do, he slowly wrote his answer on the board. Once he had finished writing his answer, he looked at Mr. Mogens for his assessment.

"Correct. The GCF is fifteen." He nodded at Mathias. "Since 30 and 45 have two common factors, 3 and 5, all you have to do is to multiply tho-

Before Mr. Mogens could finish explaining the answer on the board, Mathias, who was on his way back to his seat, suddenly lost consciousness and fell down on the floor.

When the he woke up later, Mathias found himself lying on one of the beds in the infirmary. He sat up and tried to remember what happened before he fainted. He was answered a math problem, then Mr. Mogen was in the middle of explaining his answer. Before he could go back to his seat, he suddenly felt weak. He must have surprised everyone, because the last thing he recalled was his classmates shouting his name.

"Hi there, Andersen. Good thing you're awake now."

Mathias recognized that voice. " ."

"In the flesh." The history teacher grinned at him. "Heard from Mogens that you fainted during his class."

"Y-Yeah, I guess I did." He blushed.

Mr. Beilschmidt sat on the bed. "Well, I'll accompany you for a while before the last class starts."

"Oh shoot. I slept that long? I have to get to class." Mathias stood from the bed and immediately started looking for his shoes.

"Don't even bother. Carriedo already got your clearance signed and a classmate of yours is already on the way to bring your stuff here." The other man let out a mischievous smile.

"Oh…" Mathias said in a deflated town. "I really caused a lot of trouble today, huh?"

"Not too much trouble, but you had that fainting show in class."

The fifth grade grimaced. "Gee thanks for the comfort, teach."

A knock on the door interrupted their lighthearted conversation. Mr. Carriedo entered the infirmary with a smile on his face. He thanked Mr. Beilschmidt for accompanying Mathias. The other man accepted the physician's thanks with a friendly wave and bid farewell to the two. Once Mr. Beilschmidt left, Mr. Carriedo did some last few check-ups and gave Mathias prescribed medicines and two sheets of paper that contained specific instructions how to take the medicines. He patiently explained the instructions to the fifth grader.

"You seem fine now, but I strongly suggest that you take a rest tomorrow for good measure." Mr. Carriedo said.

Mathias nodded. "Thanks Doc. I'll follow your instructions."

"I also contacted your mother. She's already on her way home, but she requested that someone take you home in her stead."

"I can just take the bus home."

"No can do," Mr. Carriedo shook his head. "You need to be completely rested. Seeing as to how you pushed yourself all day, I won't allow you to do that."

Another knock on the door was heard. This time, Luka entered the infirmary, holding Mathias' backpack. She walked towards Mr. Carriedo, exchanged a few words with him as Mathias looked on.

"Just as promised, my chauffeur is already downstairs." Luka said.

"Perfect! I was just telling Mathias over here that he won't be commuting home today. Mathias, time to go home."

Luka turned to Mathias. "Just tell Mr. Olsen where you live and he'll bring you there."

"W-What is going on?" Mathias looked back and forth the two.

"Don't worry about the small details. Just go back home and rest, okay?" Mr. Carriedo gave Mathias a friendly pat on the shoulder.

Minutes later, Mathias found himself comfortably seated in a luxury sedan. While the exterior was eye-catching enough, the interior of the car was something to behold. The lush leather covering, the presence of mini TVs and a snack basket filled with Danish wafers and other biscuits (that Mathias secretly wanted to eat) were more than enough to amaze the Dane. He asked many things about the car (and the snacks) that Mr. Olsen let out a jovial laugh and asked him if he wanted to take the basket home.

Mathias politely refused…even if he was tempted to do so otherwise. He'd be taking advantage of Luka's act of kindness if he took the basket with him.

Once he had told Mr. Olsen where he lived, the driver immediately set the car in motion. Mathias was already on his way home. Whenever he's in a vehicle of some sort, he'd look at the windows and watch the passing scenery. At this moment, however, he was immersed with his phone.

Worried that his mother might have flooded his phone with numerous worried messages and calls, he began checking his inbox and call history. Aside from a missed call from his mother, he found a couple of messages in his phone. There were three messages from his mother:

 _Your teacher and school physician told me that you had a high fever. Why didn't you rest?_

 _I'll be coming home by 6 PM. Rest in your room for the meantime._

 _Please don't do this again, Mat. I'm worried. I promise I'll be home soon._

Mathias felt oddly happy at his mother's messages. He sent a reply saying that he won't do this again and that he will be waiting at home for her. After sending that reply, he took a look at the remaining two messages came from an unlisted number. He opened the messages:

 _I'll drop by your house tomorrow to bring my notes and assignments. In the meanwhile, I'll just give you a heads up if something comes up today._

 _By the way, this is Luka. I took the liberty of asking your number from Mr. Beilschmidt a while ago.I hope you're not too bothered with that._

 **He replied back:**

 ** _I'm actually pretty happy that I have your number now. Thanks for everything today. I hope I didn't worry you too much. I'll make it up to you._**

 **To his reply, he received her reply a few seconds later:**

 ** _Start by taking care of yourself, then. It's weird when you act all spacey and silent. It's better if you're acting like your happy goofy self._**

 **End of the Chapter**

 **A/N:** **New character introductions, everyone:**

 **[1] Mr. Mogens - He is Human!Netherlands. I visualized him as a math teacher since he has some rad business skills and is very good in managing his money.**

 **[2] Mr. Carriedo – He is Human!Spain. ((Internal squealing)) I think he fits the doctor image with his cheerful fusosos.**

 **I'm not sure if I did this chapter justice, but I tried. Got a bit of writer's block lately. Anyway, please bear with my amateur writing skills. Reviews are always appreciated.**


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